Getting Creative With Product Videos

We always love the chance to work with new equipment and to push our creative boundaries. Flatiron Pepper, based in Boulder Colorado, gave us that opportunity when we produced a series of product videos for their line of gourmet pepper flakes.

New camera technology has revolutionized creative control for product videos…

While a camera that shoots 4k up to 120 frames per second has become the standard, we really wanted to go faster and push for those drawn out, sexy, slow motion food shots. We were thrilled to rent the Freefly Systems Wave; a high speed camera that allowed us to shoot at 4k up to 420FPS. When you play this back at a normal 24 FPS, a 4 second shot is now over a minute long, really stretching time and reality. This awesome camera gave us exactly what we were looking for. 

Combined with the Veenus Optics Laowa Probe Lens, we got some really unique perspectives..

This 24mm wide angle macro lens is about 14 inches long and allowed us to push right into the pepper flakes and various food recipes. With our high frame rate and extra long lens, we had to be fastidious with our lighting to get proper exposure in camera.  

Of course, the best cameras and lighting in the world are worthless without stellar creative direction.

One of our more unique shots involved getting pepper flakes to explode out of the bottle…

To achieve this, we cut the bottoms off the bottles and used a flask funnel to adapt the bottle to the end of an air compressor hose. Once everything was set and staged, we released a short burst from the air compressor and let the camera capture the magic. The slow motion shot was magical! However, the plume of hot pepper dust in the air? Less so. Burning eyes and sinuses (even through KN95 masks..) were worth it for such an awesome shot! 

We love working with local companies like Flat Iron Pepper and getting creative and innovative. Check out some of the spots linked and try some pepper flakes in your next recipe from Flatiron Pepper! 

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